The Brief

You may not know Jing Gao by name, but there's a good chance you've come across a jar of her chili crisp Fly By Jing, featuring its hypercharged label resembling a contemporary art piece. It could have caught your eye while perusing the aisles at a local big box store, an occasional boutique shop, or on a friend's kitchen counter.

And if it's not on your counter or in your pantry, it should be.

Certain legacy brands such as Lao Gan Ma have dominated the chili crisp marketplace internationally since the '80s, and in recent years homegrown players such as Momofuku Chili Crisp by David Chang and Boon by Max Boonthanakit have cropped up with their own deliciously sludgy takes on chili crisp.

But, in terms of value and taste, Fly By Jing's chili crisp has continued to impress yours truly so much that I always make sure I have a jar on hand.

After buying chili crisps regularly for the better part of a decade, I've become increasingly dependent on them in my arsenal of kitchen ingredients, using them for everything from frying eggs to pasta sauces. While I'm a big fan of the spicy taste and crunchy flavors, the quality of the sauce is that it never dries out, making it a real winner.

For the uninitiated, chili crisp is an essential Asian hot sauce. But it's in its own category compared to a bottle of Tapatio or Tabasco. The ingredients comprise dried chilies, aromatics, and fermented black beans submerged in chili oil, resulting in a spicy, umami-rich flavor with a textured, crunch-laden bite.

The central spice ingredient is the Sichuan pepper, known for its unique flavor profile that features a tingling, almost numbing effect on the taste buds. It can be found in various dishes, including mapo tofu, dan dan noodles, and toothpick cumin lamb.

One of the most exciting aspects about each chili crisp recipe is that every chef and sauce maker likes to put their spin on it.

Within the last decade, chili crisp has become ubiquitous across the modern American palate. Fly by Jing, ($14), is a standout in the marketplace for more than just its quality and taste: Gao is the only AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) female condiment founder in Los Angeles.

After Gao and I began following each other on Instagram, I witnessed the rapid growth of her Fly By Jing company, ascending from a small start-up to a leader in the condiment industry.

So when an opportunity to speak to Gao came up, I jumped at the chance to learn more about the journey behind her spectacular chili crisp.

Where it all began

Born in Chengdu, China, Gao spent her formative years moving throughout Europe and Canada. Her foray into food began as a chef and restaurateur in China, having previously worked in the tech industry in China and other parts of Asia. Upon switching to pursue her passion for food, she began hosting a series of underground supper clubs in Shanghai, where she came up with the name Fly By Jing.

In 2018, Gao left the chef life and moved to Los Angeles, where she rented an Airbnb, armed with a mission to start her own condiment company, motivated by what she describes as "a desire to share flavors and make them more accessible to western consumers."

Fly By Jing's chili crisp is good on just about everything, any place you'd like a little more spice. There are no rules.

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Courtesy of Fly By Jing

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Driven by a mission

Yes, there are places in L.A. like Bistro Na and Majordomo where Asian food is considered haute cuisine. But those are the exceptions in Gao's experience: She says she believes that in the past, to many mainstream American tastebuds, Chinese food and its corresponding cuisines were seen as cheap and plentiful.

"There was this accepted belief that Chinese food is dirty, cheap, unhealthy, and not worth paying for,” she told me, adding, “And so, of course, anyone who manufactures in China would never export anything of quality because people are told that no one's willing to pay more than a dollar or two for Chinese food."

It's part of the assumption that food from foreign countries, especially non-European companies, should be inexpensive. Similar attitudes stem back to the 19th century when Chinese immigrants first arrived in the Americas during the Gold Rush and were seen as inferior to their white counterparts. It's a similar fate to Mexican food, and the perception in some corners that a taco shouldn't cost more than $5.

So, when starting her condiment company, quality was essential to Gao, who wanted to subvert any Westernized assumptions surrounding Chinese food.

An example that Gao uses during our conversation illustrates this fact, detailing how she sourced the condiment's tribute pepper, a single-origin pepper only grown in one place in the world, located about four hours away by car from Chengdu. Gao detailed for me how she spent years studying and building relationships with the farmers who grow the pepper on a single plot of land, and how it's only harvested once a year.

How she changed the narrative

To Gao, chili crisp was the perfect vehicle for broadening people's sense of taste due to its popularity in China and because, as she puts it, "it's good on everything."

Running a successful Kickstarter campaign allowed Gao to establish the financial footing needed to get the company off the ground. After gaining a viral appeal, selling her chili crisp online eventually led to larger retailers like Costco and Target reaching out to stock her jars.

Traditional usages of chili crisp tend to be found in dishes such as noodles, soup, or vegetables. But as the condiment's popularity has recently grown here in the United States, it's not uncommon to see it used on pasta, pizza, salads, ice cream — and even donuts.

Fly By Jing CEO and founder Jing Gao wants to challenge the notion of how Americans think about Chinese food.

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Courtesy of Fly By Jing

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As her chili crisp empire has grown, so have the business opportunities.

Most recently, she collaborated on a pineapple passion fruit Sichuan chili crisp donut for Holy Grail Donuts, the Hawaiian taro donut company with a cult-like following, with outposts in Santa Monica and Larchmont Village. The made-to-order donut is fried in coconut oil, then covered in a tropical fruit glaze, and finishes off with a smack of heat from the chili crisp.

Gao has also landed similar partnerships with Panda Express, for a limited spicy Wagyu beef dumplings and Shake Shack, which featured a burger and chicken sandwich drizzled with some of Gao's signature sauces, along with a successful collaboration with a tinned fish company of the moment, Fishwife, for a smoked salmon with chili crisp that seemed to be on everyone's table last year. Gao's also published a cookbook, "The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp: Spicy Recipes and Stories from Fly By Jing's Kitchen," in 2023.

Where she's headed next

Like the many uses of her chili crisp, Gao subverts categorization as she expands her brand beyond chili crisp. In addition to a line of saucy condiments, Fly By Jing also offers vinaigrettes, chili oils, dry spice mixes, and a hot pot starter kit.

Most recently, she's expanded to an actual market and cafe space.

Partnering with lifestyle influencer Stephanie Liu Hjelmeseth, the cafe space, located in the neighborhood of Larchmont Village, Suá Superette, boasts an all-day menu that showcases a variety of organic grab-and-go items, all inspired by Sichuan-style fare and flavors, reimagined.

In addition to the various menu items at Suá Superette, there's a also a variety of Fly By Jing products you can stock up on.

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Courtesy of Fly By Jing

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Inside the space, among the minimalist decor, diners can dig into a variety of dishes that include a vegan mapo tofu made with wild mushrooms, spicy chili-and-cumin grass-fed beef wraps, and cold soba noodles tossed in a sunbutter sesame dressing, to name a few.

The fluidity of cultures comes naturally to Gao, having spent most of her life abroad before calling Los Angeles her home. Throughout her experiences, Jing wanted to offer a product that would appeal to like-minded consumers looking to spice up their lives, a spoonful of chili crisp at a time.

With Suá, a throughline is coming into sharper focus. Gao describes the common thread: "A similar philosophy that's rooted in tradition, but made for the way we eat today, it's modern."

As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.